My next care was, to make special inquiries about my old friend the three-bagged apothecary; and though I did not much fear that I could be recognised, I must confess that I felt a secret joy when I learnt that he had taken his departure for that country whither his drugs had despatched so many of his patients before him. Ten years, however, had now elapsed since I left Madrid, and, besides that, I was much altered in person; who the devil could have recognized poor Guzman in the finery with which he was now disguised? I took great pleasure in shewing myself off in my best suits, particularly in the one I had purchased at Saragossa. I exhibited myself in them by turns, in the morning at the different churches, and in the evening at the prado. One night having returned home rather late to bed, as I crossed a corridor which led to my chamber, I heard the voice of a young lady accompanying a harp. I stopped to listen to this little concert, for it was very near my own room, and felt an extreme curiosity to know who were the fair performers. My landlady, who was going to send some sweetmeats and biscuits to refresh the singer, happened to pass by just at this moment, and told me that they were two ladies of Guadalaxara, who were but just arrived at her house, to solicit a law-suit at Madrid for a large sum of money. I gave her to understand that I had an extreme desire to hear them nearer, and that she would confer an obligation on me which I should remember all my life, if she could procure me admittance into their company. She replied that she would do all she could in my favour, but that she dared not promise me, for the mother was a very reserved sort of woman, who led a very retired life with her daughter, who was very pretty, and whom she never trusted out of her sight. This only made me the more anxious to see her. My landlady assured me that she would do all in her power. With this assurance, I allowed her to enter the apartment where the ladies were, and I walked up and down the corridor, expecting their answer; which was, that the ladies hoped I would excuse their declining at so late an hour to receive a visit from a gentleman with whom they were not acquainted.